Roller skating, in particular in-line skating, has become a popular sport and pastime. One of the more difficult aspects of in-line skating is braking and speed control, particularly when descending a hill. Various roller skate brakes have been developed to aid the skater in braking and speed control.
One braking device now in widespread use is a rear braking pad. The pad is disposed downwardly from proximate the heel of the skate. When all the wheels of the skate are in contact with the skating surface, the pad is disposed above the skating surface. In order to apply the pad brake, the skater must lift the toe of the skate and force the pad against the skating surface. This is generally a quite effective means for speed control and braking, however, mastery of the technique is somewhat difficult for beginners and novices.
Another roller skate brake is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 926,646 to Eubank, Jr. The Eubank brake includes a roller rotatably attached about an axle connected to a lever. The roller is disposed proximate or adjacent to one of the rolling wheels of the roller skate. The skater supplies force to the lever by way of a strap fastened around the user's leg and operably connected to the lever. This arrangement presents the disadvantage of making braking action dependent upon the rotation of the skater's leg about the ankle, which would appear to result in frequent unintentional braking. Additionally, Eubank does not disclose a means for braking the inevitable rotation of the roller when it is brought in contact with the adjacent rolling wheel.
Another patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,781 to Riggs, discloses a roller skate brake including brake pads which are forced to impinge one each against parallel rolling wheels by way of a sheathed cable and actuator handle similar to a bicycle caliber brake. The brake disclosed by Riggs is for braking wheels having essentially cylindrical circumferential rolling surfaces. The circumferential surfaces of the rolling wheels of most in-line skates, however, generally have a convex or archic cross-section. It is anticipated that the brake pad disclosed by Riggs if applied to typical in-line skate wheels would, through abrasion, tend to truncate or flatten the convex or archic cross-section of those wheels. This would tend to reduce the skates' performance making them more difficult to control.